After a few minutes of pointedly ignoring us, probably some stupid ceremonial thing to remind us who was higher on the food chain, Nergui stepped forward and addressed the Khan in his native language (I assumed, not like I could tell one dialect from another around here). When he was done, he gestured towards us.
“This is it,” whispered James. I glanced over out of the corner of my eye and noticed a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. Guess my reputation for being a wise-ass preceded me.
The Khan dismissed Nergui and said something in our general direction. The crowd went silent, and all eyes turned towards us. Ignoring the voice in my head that was telling me now was the perfect time to start screaming, “Yeah! It's me. The fucking Freewill, bitches!!”, I instead waited for James' lead. A moment later, he began slowly walking up the main aisle towards the Khan. I attempted to match his step and followed.
When we got about two-thirds of the way there, he stopped and bowed deeply. He then stepped aside, and I did the same. Nobody could say I didn't at least try to start the evening off on the right note. Once I was done, the Khan nodded his head ever so slightly. That was a good sign, I think. Probably should have boned up on my ancient Mongolian vampire customs before I shipped out. The Khan then said something to James, which he, in turn, translated for me.
“The Khan, esteemed member of the First Coven and Shadow Lord of Asia (oh brother!), welcomes you as his honored guest.” He then paused while giving me a look that said I was expected to answer.
“The honor is all mine, great Khan,” was my reply. “Oh yeah, and Captain Kirk totally owned your ass!” OK, I didn't say that last part out loud. I'm not that suicidal.
A small look of relief crossed James' face, and then he relayed my answer back to the Khan. There was another brief exchange, and James again translated.
“You are invited to enjoy the feast and all the hospitality the Khan has to offer. Once it is done, you will be called forward again.”
Called forward? For what? Did he want an autograph? Or maybe he wanted to give me one. ‘To my biggest fan, keep on rocking! Your bud, the Khan.’
However, before I could say anything, James turned back towards the Khan and again bowed. That was apparently my cue to do the same. Once it was done, the conversation amongst the vampire crowd immediately resumed, and James led me off to the side, where a space had been left for us.
We sat down, and almost immediately a servant placed a large full wine cup into my hand. Now why can't I get service like this back in the city?
“Why are they calling me back up later?” I asked James.
“Don't worry about it. Probably nothing,” he said dismissively as he started to eat.
Oh well, when in Rome...I took a sip of my drink. Whoa! Good shit! Something familiar tasting about it, though. “What is this stuff?” I asked.
“Fermented blood, of course,” James answered. Oh, of course.
* * *
The feast was pretty damn nice. I helped myself to plenty of the blood wine, as well as my fair share of goat and pork. I declined, however, from partaking in the roasted humans. I may be a vampire, but there are limits as to how creepy I'm willing to get. This shit definitely crossed that line; however, aside from that one little detail, it was all good.
During the course of the meal, a few other vampires introduced themselves through James. I didn't really get a lot of names, though. For starters, I'm not good with that kind of thing, even worse when I'm being told third person. Secondly, the fermented blood had given me a pretty nice buzz. After a while, the faces just sort of became one blur after the other.
That was, until a small voice said from behind me, “So this is the Freewill? I thought he would be taller.”
I turned to find the small girl from before, “the Khan's daughter”, as James had said, staring back at me. When she grew up, she was going to be a real looker. For now, though, she was cute as a button with silky black hair and inquisitive green eyes.
“Ah! What an honor!” James said, turning around to face the girl. He stood up and bade me do the same. “I would like to introduce her highness, Gansetseg.”
The girl inclined her head to James, and then said to me, “So you are the one the Wanderer calls ‘Dr. Death’?”
“It’s more of a nickname than anything else. My name's Bill.”
“Bill...” she said, as if tasting the word in her mouth. “A simple but strong name, although perhaps Dr. Death is a more fitting title for one such as you.”
“You speak really good English,” I pointed out.
“Thank you. My father, though having no love of the Western world himself, has insisted that my education be thorough.”
“A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” I said glibly, noticing out of the corner of my eye the slight eye-roll James made. Oh crap, I was doing it again. Best to wrap this up quickly before any further stupidity escaped my lips. “Well, it was very nice to meet you, Gan.”
“Gan?” she asked, a confused look on her face. “I do not understand. Is this meant as some sort of insult?” Uh oh.
“No!” I quickly answered. “It's just a nickname. I mean, where I come from we usually shorten each other's names to something simple. It's a compliment...a form of friendship,” I sputtered, hoping that I hadn't just dug my own grave with my stupid mouth.
She thought about this for a moment, and then gave what appeared to be a genuine smile. “A curious custom. We would never do that here. But yes, I think I like it. It is nice to meet you, too,” she finished with another smile, and then walked back towards her father.
“Cute kid,” I remarked to James.
“Yes, well that kid is three-hundred years old. You're lucky. That could have gone badly. Gansetseg is known to be temperamental. Instead, though, I think you actually made an impression upon her.”
“Three-hundred years?” I gasped, spewing some blood wine. “Has she always looked...”
“Yes,” James answered evenly. “That's the way it works with Vampires. You had asked before if vampires can have children. The answer is both yes and no. Despite his immortality, the Khan has always kept his mortal family close. Gansetseg is actually something like his great-great-granddaughter. She was a favorite of his. When she was bitten by a poisonous snake shortly after her twelfth birthday, the Khan couldn't bear to see her die. Her turned her, and then adopted her. She's been with him ever since.”
“And she'll look like that forever?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes. She is an ancient and wise woman in the body of a child.”
“Whoa,” I said.
“Yes, whoa is a particularly apt answer for that.”
* * *
We finished the feast. There were a lot of happy, content, and partially drunk vampires seated in the dining hall. A few more glasses of the blood, and I was going to start putting my arms around random vamps, doing the whole “I love you, man!” thing. I reflected back and realized that this had wound up becoming one hell of a fine day. Who'da thought it? A few days ago, I was feeling at my lowest. Now today, I was the honored guest of a living piece of history...oh, and did I mention the boatloads of sex I had earlier? Because if I didn't, I'd be happy to go into detail. Yeah, it was a pretty damn good day.
Which, of course, meant that it was time for the shit to hit the fan. Such is my life. Whenever the good times last too long, I know it's time to put on my raincoat and head into the storm cellar because some nastiness is no doubt coming my way.
Thus, as we sat around mellowing out, the Khan clapped his hands. Servants appeared from the shadows and quickly cleared the food from the tables. They then removed the tables themselves. Hmm, something about this reminded me of a scene out of Mortal Kombat the movie.
The Khan barked some orders, and once more the crowd fell silent. This was a guy used to getting what he wanted. Although, judging from the size of him, what he usually wanted most was more pie. He then turned to James and said something else. Jame
s turned towards me and said, “It's time. Back into the spotlight you go.”
We both started to rise, but then I heard Gan's voice chime in. She said something to her father in Chinese. After a moment, he nodded back. She then said in English, “No, Wanderer. The Freewill will face his tests alone.” Tests!?
James bowed to her and gave me an apologetic look before sitting back down. Maybe I had insulted her after all. Oh boy.
I walked to the center of the room, aware that all eyes were upon me. If I had ever suffered from stage fright, now would be a bad time for a relapse.
The Khan turned towards Nergui and spoke a command. Nergui bowed and walked to a spot directly in front of me. He drew a large sword from a scabbard on his back. Oh crap! This guy was an assassin. No doubt he knew how to use that thing. I tried to steady my shaking knees as he leveled the sword at me...and then plunged it into the ground at my feet. He gave me a quick nod and went back to his post.
“Now we will see exactly how free your will is,” spoke Gan, a mischievous smile on her face.
Before I could further wonder what she meant by that, the full force of a compulsion erupted from the Khan. Though his spoken words were unintelligible to me, I could clearly understand them inside of my head. “PICK UP THE SWORD AND FALL UPON IT!!” It felt like someone cracked open my skull and punched me directly in the brain. Holy shit! I wouldn’t be surprised if, from this moment on, I was going to hear this guy's voice echoing in every memory I had all the way back to childhood.
My vision doubled, then blurred, and I felt myself partially double over from the force of it all. When things finally cleared a few moments later, I looked and saw drag marks in front of my feet. The sword was now a good three feet away. The force of the compulsion had physically shoved me back without my even being aware of it. Damn! And this guy was supposedly one of the younger Draculas. If so, an older one could probably cause my head to explode like a water balloon if they wanted to; however, at the end of it all, shaken as I was, the sword was left untouched.
I stood up straight, looked at the Khan, and gave my head a single shake no. The crowd erupted into shocked gasps. I turned to find James wearing a bemused grin. He gave me a quick thumbs-up. I had passed the test. I then noticed another sound. I turned towards the front of the room and saw Gan clapping her hands, a happy smile on her face. From the looks of things, I guess I hadn't insulted her after all.
Glad that was over. I looked at the Khan and gestured towards my seat. He held up his hand, the universal sign for “stop what the fuck you're doing”. The crowd again went silent, except for Gan, who was still clapping. My, she was an eager little beaver. Nice to see I had a cheering section. However, the Khan didn't seem to be amused. He turned to her and said a quick word which stopped her dead in her tracks. Daughter or not, she was on as tight of a leash as everyone else here. Or maybe not, as she gave him one hell of a pouty look in return. Nepotism has some advantages, no matter where you are.
Khan and Gan (sounds like a bad cartoon) exchanged a few more words, and then it was apparently back to business. She turned back to me and once again spoke. “Our legends say the gods were very generous when they created our people. Long life and strength are but a few of our gifts. However, for all of their generosity, we are still lacking in their eyes. It is said that the first Freewill was created by the gods in an attempt to address this, to bring us closer to their image. As fierce as we are, the Freewills who walked amongst us caused even our mightiest to tremble (yeah that's right, I'm a badass!). They led our armies against our adversaries, and with them at the forefront, our enemies were laid low. But then we did something, some transgression lost to the ages, and the gods took away our favor. The Freewills vanished, and our people were diminished (jeez, did she pull this speech straight out of Lord of the Rings or what?), forever some said. Yet now, here you are. What does it mean?”
She paused. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to say something or if it was just a rhetorical thing. I was just about to shrug my shoulders (and probably make an ass of myself in the process) when she continued speaking. “Our seers do not yet know. All they can say is that there are dark days ahead. Will you help be the sunrise in our endless night?” OK, this was getting a little deep. I mean, come on! I had a few extra tricks the others couldn't do. That was it. All I knew was that if I heard the words chosen and one in the same sentence, I was getting the hell out of here. They could find someone else to play Harry Potter for them.
On the other hand, telling a room full of vampires, all of whom were older and stronger than me, to go fuck themselves might not exactly be the best strategy either. So, for the sake of covering my own ass, I simply nodded.
That was apparently the correct answer, as Gan’s face once more broke into a wide grin. The Khan spoke a few words to her, and after a brief exchange, she went on. “My father is pleased. The next test may begin.”
Next test!? I opened my mouth to protest, but before I could speak, it was filled with Bang's fist. At a nod from the Khan, James' errand boy, Bang, had raced forward and… well, banged me. OK, maybe that was the wrong way to put it. He came at me full speed, which in vampire terms meant he crossed the space between us in the blink of an eye and gave me a solid punch to the face. I flew back a good dozen feet and just lay there dazed for a moment. I definitely hadn’t been expecting that. “Ow,” was the best I could do as way of response.
A few seconds passed before I was able to remember my name again. I slowly pulled myself to my feet, feeling the cascade of blood gushing out of my crushed nose. The crowd again broke into murmurs, and I distinctly heard a few guffaws of laughter. I turned towards Bang to find him standing there, smirking. Assholes, all of them.
I was about to voice that opinion out loud when the Khan barked another order. This time, Cheng-gong stepped forward (also trying and failing to suppress a grin, the fucker!). He pulled a sharp looking dagger from a sheath at his hip, held out his arm towards me, and cut open one of his veins. One guy decks me, and the other comes out to bleed all over me. Damn, these people were a pack of weirdos.
Again, though, Gan's voice rang out towards me. “Show us your power, Freewill. Show us that the legends speak true!”
OK, I had no fucking idea what she was talking about. Was she expecting me to shoot a fireball or something at these guys? What the hell power did these idiots think I was going to pull out of my ass? I turned towards James, hoping maybe there'd be a little help there. He mouthed something to me. I suck at lip reading, so I didn't quite catch it. I mouthed back “What?”, and he did it again. It looked like he was saying, “Drink and fight, stupid.” Drink and fight? What the...oh, I get it! Suck up the blood from the dude with the cutting fetish and use it to beat the crap out of the asshole who blindsided me.
Now that I could get behind. I walked over to Cheng-gong and grabbed his arm. When he didn't resist, I extended my fangs (hey, might as well make a show of it) and dug them into the wound on his arm. The crowd gave a collective gasp and went silent. I sucked down a few mouthfuls and felt Cheng's arm stiffen. He wasn't quite enjoying this. Well, fuck him. I didn't quite enjoy getting my face bashed in a few minutes ago. I took a final draw of his blood, and then I felt it...that familiar rush I got after I drank another vampire's blood. It was like somebody hooked up a car battery to my insides. First there was an electric-like jolt, and then came the rush as my body temporarily absorbed the power from the blood and made it my own. Time to show Bang a thing or two.
But first things first. A little show for the crowd never hurt, especially since they were here to see me. I pulled away from Cheng-gong's arm and then shoved him to the side, far more violently than warranted. He went flying into the crowd, which immediately erupted into more chatter amongst themselves. I don’t speak their language; however, it was obvious from the tone that most of them had apparently not believed what they’d been told about me.
I put out my hand and did a little Bruce Lee-ish ‘come over here’ wa
ve to Bang. Time to take it up a notch. Or maybe not. A small voice in the back of my head reminded me that no matter what strength I might possess, the guy in front of me was a trained killer. He could probably take me apart piece by piece and then reassemble me backwards to do it all over again. *sigh* How the hell do I get myself into stupid situations like this?
Fortunately, though, (for me at least) this wasn't a UFC prize fight. This was a test of my powers as opposed to my prowess (which was close to zero). Bang threw another straight jab at me of about the same speed and strength as his first hit. This one I was able to see coming and catch with my hand. He threw up his other hand, which likewise locked with mine. We thus engaged in that time honored tradition of almost every schoolyard, a game of mercy.
This was apparently what the crowd was waiting for, as they suddenly got into it. There were whoops and cheers, apparently rooting for both sides of this match. I don't know what Mongolian money looks like, but judging from the paper being passed around, I'd say there was some betting going on. too. It figures. No matter how cultured the crowd may claim to be, if a fight breaks out the cash will start changing hands. Nice to see there were some universals in this screwed up world I found myself in.
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